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CIA Website Down, UGNazi Hackers Claim Responsibility


By

John Del Signore

Published Dec 20, 2012

Modified Dec 20, 2012


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By

John Del Signore

Published Dec 20, 2012

Modified Dec 20, 2012


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If, like us, you were planning on using this afternoon to apply for a new job online with the Central Intelligence Agency, you're out of luck. The website for the government agency responsible for keeping our nation's deepest, darkest secrets buried deep in the shame shadows has been compromised, according to the UGNazi hacker collective, which is claiming responsibility.

UGNazi, you may recall, is led by a 15-year-old hacker who goes by the name "Cosmo the God." He is currently on probation for bringing down several Washington, D.C. websites, including the CIA's site, in April. As part of his parole, he's prohibited from touching a computer without permission for the next six years. But Gizmodo speculates that the teen may have violated his parole yesterday by hacking or helping to hack the Twitter account of a prominent Westboro Baptist Church church member. (Cosmo's Twitter account has since been suspended.)

The CIA website was also brought down by Anonymous using a denial-of-service (Dos) attack in February. As of 4:30 today, the site has been down for over an hour. As an alternative, please note that the other CIA website is still kicking.

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c.i.a.

hackers


John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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